An interview was conducted with a Puerto-Rican/ Mexican student about his past schooling experience. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois. The following contains the questions and his responses. He shows a great example of the power of culturally relevant teaching.
1. Do you speak Spanish? If so is it your first language ? What was the main language spoken at home ?
Answer: I understand Spanish fluently, but only speak Spanish occasionally. Our household only spoke
English although both parents and step-parents are 100% fluent. It is not unusual in Hispanic
culture for parents to only speak English/ discourage Spanish in the household unless the
parents themselves do not know English.
2. What generation American do you identify with?
Answer: On my mom’s side (P.R) I am the 3rd generation although Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the
U.S. therefore my grandparents emigrated legally via plane without any paperwork or processes
needed. Paternally (MX) I am 4th+ generation. My grandparents were “Tejano Americans”
meaning their family/ previous generations were living in Texas prior to it becoming part of the
U.S.
3. What sort of household did you grow up in? Both parents or single parent?
Answer: grew up solely with my mother and step-father. Both who are Puerto Rican. My exposure to
my father and his Mexican heritage was limited to occasional weekends and scarce holidays.
4. Who was your main caregiver? Who was the most active in your schooling?
Answer: Until I was older, my oldest sister who is 5 years older than me took care of us on day to day
level. Meaning, cooking, cleaning, travel to and from school, homework, etc; My parents
worked to support the family. My sister was mostly responsible for helping me with my
homework and ensuring it was of good quality. She also stepped in for parent/ teacher
conferences and report card days.
5. Tell me about your schooling experience.
Answer: English being my first language and not really knowing Spanish until later in life when friends
and pop culture taught me, I was at a disadvantage. Also, inner city schools typically are laden
with minorities already and Caucausian, Asian, or European students typically are the minority.
When race is eliminated from the equation, teachers strive for students to be the top of our
class. I’ve been to many schools but the majority of my education (1st-4th & 6-7th ) was at a
magnet school that was mostly Hispanic which focused on excelling students in the arts;
particularly Science, math, and Music. My high school education was at a charter school also
predominantly Hispanic, which offered a relatively free private education funded by private
donors. There, the students were able to learn an uninhibited curriculum similar to a private
school, although of no cost to the families. Teachers did not encourage us to be “white”
although they did spend a lot of time preparing us for exposure to “white” culture. These would
be things like informing us of economic disadvantages in our curriculum, suburban culture,
suburban school structures, opportunities other schools had that we didn’t, and regional/
cultural differences. Our school helped counteract those differences by creating interesting and
unique studies to inhibit our college education and life experiences. Some ways were free
college summer/ break opportunities, mandatory (rare) language requirements, increased
physical education requirements, increased service obligations, and strict enforcement of the
“No child left behind Act”. My high school for example, paid for me to attend college classes at
the University of Arizona for the summer, 2 years mandatory Russian (culture and language) for
all students, P.E. or sports 4 days a week, 80 hours of community service by graduation
(benchmarked throughout our 4 years), and seemingly ridiculous grade requirements for all
students. Teachers at my school, as well as many public schools, were strictly scrutinized and
evaluated by students, peers, and even school affiliates. Any teacher who did not receive
acceptable marks or was deemed “incompetent” by their peers was often penalized (lack of a
bonus) or removed from their perspective class. High school/ grammar school was difficult for
myself and many others but the key to success was acknowledging cultural differences and
working to integrate Hispanic culture into what would be our future outer-cultural environment.
Answer: I understand Spanish fluently, but only speak Spanish occasionally. Our household only spoke
English although both parents and step-parents are 100% fluent. It is not unusual in Hispanic
culture for parents to only speak English/ discourage Spanish in the household unless the
parents themselves do not know English.
2. What generation American do you identify with?
Answer: On my mom’s side (P.R) I am the 3rd generation although Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the
U.S. therefore my grandparents emigrated legally via plane without any paperwork or processes
needed. Paternally (MX) I am 4th+ generation. My grandparents were “Tejano Americans”
meaning their family/ previous generations were living in Texas prior to it becoming part of the
U.S.
3. What sort of household did you grow up in? Both parents or single parent?
Answer: grew up solely with my mother and step-father. Both who are Puerto Rican. My exposure to
my father and his Mexican heritage was limited to occasional weekends and scarce holidays.
4. Who was your main caregiver? Who was the most active in your schooling?
Answer: Until I was older, my oldest sister who is 5 years older than me took care of us on day to day
level. Meaning, cooking, cleaning, travel to and from school, homework, etc; My parents
worked to support the family. My sister was mostly responsible for helping me with my
homework and ensuring it was of good quality. She also stepped in for parent/ teacher
conferences and report card days.
5. Tell me about your schooling experience.
Answer: English being my first language and not really knowing Spanish until later in life when friends
and pop culture taught me, I was at a disadvantage. Also, inner city schools typically are laden
with minorities already and Caucausian, Asian, or European students typically are the minority.
When race is eliminated from the equation, teachers strive for students to be the top of our
class. I’ve been to many schools but the majority of my education (1st-4th & 6-7th ) was at a
magnet school that was mostly Hispanic which focused on excelling students in the arts;
particularly Science, math, and Music. My high school education was at a charter school also
predominantly Hispanic, which offered a relatively free private education funded by private
donors. There, the students were able to learn an uninhibited curriculum similar to a private
school, although of no cost to the families. Teachers did not encourage us to be “white”
although they did spend a lot of time preparing us for exposure to “white” culture. These would
be things like informing us of economic disadvantages in our curriculum, suburban culture,
suburban school structures, opportunities other schools had that we didn’t, and regional/
cultural differences. Our school helped counteract those differences by creating interesting and
unique studies to inhibit our college education and life experiences. Some ways were free
college summer/ break opportunities, mandatory (rare) language requirements, increased
physical education requirements, increased service obligations, and strict enforcement of the
“No child left behind Act”. My high school for example, paid for me to attend college classes at
the University of Arizona for the summer, 2 years mandatory Russian (culture and language) for
all students, P.E. or sports 4 days a week, 80 hours of community service by graduation
(benchmarked throughout our 4 years), and seemingly ridiculous grade requirements for all
students. Teachers at my school, as well as many public schools, were strictly scrutinized and
evaluated by students, peers, and even school affiliates. Any teacher who did not receive
acceptable marks or was deemed “incompetent” by their peers was often penalized (lack of a
bonus) or removed from their perspective class. High school/ grammar school was difficult for
myself and many others but the key to success was acknowledging cultural differences and
working to integrate Hispanic culture into what would be our future outer-cultural environment.
Many thanks to Steve Alvarez for letting me interview him :)